JPH06287607A - Metallic porous body - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention provides a porous current collector for an alkaline secondary battery, which does not reduce the charge-discharge utilization rate by using a metal porous body having a small average pore size. A copper or copper oxide porous body having a cavity of 1 μm or more and 50 μm or less in the skeleton, an average diameter of the skeleton of 50 μm or more and 200 μm or less, and an average pore diameter of 200 μm or more and 800 μm or less. The porosity is in the range of 85% or more and 99% or less. It is characterized in that the thickness of the porous body is in the range of 0.5 mm or more and 5 mm or less. [Effect] The present invention can provide a porous current collector for an alkaline secondary battery, which has a good charge / discharge utilization rate and is stable.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a three-dimensional porous metal body. Specifically, it is a metal porous body containing copper as a basic element, and is used, for example, as a current collector for an alkaline secondary battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It has been proposed to use a metal porous body as a current collector in an alkaline battery (JP-A-55-55).
25988, JP-A-55-125202). Its features include the improvement of charge / discharge utilization rate and the accuracy of weight basis weight due to its high surface area. The average pore diameter of these metal porous bodies is 1 mm or more, and the skeleton diameter is 0.5.
Larger than mm. The metal porous body having such a large average pore diameter and skeleton diameter can be obtained by the following production method. That is, a porous organic polymer, for example, urethane foam skeleton is kneaded with a metal porous material powder and applied with an organic adhesive, and excess raw material powder is removed by passing between rollers, and the organic polymer is heated by heating it. The skeleton of the material is decomposed or evaporated and removed, and the raw material powder is sintered to obtain a porous metal body (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-125202). When the metal porous body is produced by such a production method, if the porous organic polymer used has a small pore size, clogging occurs, so that a metal porous body having a small pore size has not been obtained.

[0003]

Even if the average pore diameter of a conventional metal porous body is small, it is 1 mm or more, and when an active material is filled therein to form an electrode, the active material is close to a metal because of the large pore diameter. It is used only partially, and the charge / discharge utilization rate is not sufficient. Further, if the pore size is large, the unused material is deposited in the lower part, and the outflow from the electrode to the outside occurs. Therefore, when this electrode is used as a secondary battery, it cannot be used as a battery because the utilization factor decreases or a short circuit occurs due to repeated charging and discharging several times. The present invention provides a porous current collector for an alkaline secondary battery in which the above-mentioned drawbacks are improved by using a metal porous body having a small average pore size.

[0004]

The present invention provides an average obtained by covering a porous organic polymer material with copper or copper oxide and heating it in a non-oxidizing gas atmosphere to decompose and remove the organic polymer material. It is a porous metal having a small pore size. Specifically, the skeleton has cavities of 1 μm or more and 50 μm or less, the skeleton has an average diameter of 50 μm or more and 200 μm or less, and an average pore diameter of 200 μm.
m or more and 800 μm or less, the porosity is in the range of 85% or more and 99% or less, and the porous body has a thickness of 0.5.
It is a porous metal body in the range of mm to 5 mm.

This is the invention of the present inventors (Japanese Patent Application No. 04-
No. 1119854). 1 and 2
The metal porous body using copper according to the present invention is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a skeleton, 2 is a hole, and 3 is a cavity in the skeleton. The porous body shown in FIG. 1 has a skeleton 1 with an average diameter of 50 μm or more.
The skeleton 1 has a cavity 3 of 1 μm or more and 50 μm or less. If the diameter of the skeleton 1 is smaller than 50 μm, the strength is lowered, and if it is larger than 200 μm, the utilization factor of the active material of the battery is reduced. The cavity 3 in the metal skeleton is generated by evaporation of the organic polymer material used, but is smaller than the skeleton diameter of the polymer material due to dense sintering. If the average pore size is smaller than 200 μm, it is difficult to sufficiently fill the active material of the battery, and if it is larger than 800 μm, the utilization factor of the active material is lowered. The porosity of this metallic porous body is 85% or more and 99.
% Or less, but if less than 85%, the utilization factor of the active material decreases, and if more than 99%, the strength becomes brittle. Also,
If the thickness of the metal porous body is less than 0.5 mm, the strength is fragile and the metal porous body is easily broken when impregnated with the active material. If the thickness is more than 5 mm, impregnation is insufficient and pores remain.

[0006]

Example: The average diameter of the skeleton is 100 μm and the average pore diameter is 60.
0μm, 30mm × 30mm × 2mm copper porous body,
In order to suppress hydrogen generation, lead is electroplated, and a mixture of 94 wt% zinc oxide, 4 wt% Teflon and 2 wt% lead oxide is impregnated with water while stirring, and after drying at 400 ° C for 6
It was heat-treated for 0 minutes and used as the negative electrode of the battery. A nickel (II) hydroxide positive electrode having the same amount of charge as this negative electrode is placed in a 30% aqueous potassium hydroxide solution together with a separator containing cellulose as a main component, and charged and discharged at 0.2 C for 5 hours. Was repeated 50 times. The utilization rate of the active material at the 50th cycle was 95% compared to the initial value, and the utilization rate was sufficiently repeatable.

(Comparative Example) The skeleton has an average diameter of 500 μm, an average pore diameter of 1800 μm, and a size of 30 mm × 30 mm × 5 mm.
The above copper porous body is electrolytically plated with lead in order to suppress hydrogen generation, and a mixture of 94 wt% zinc oxide, 4 wt% Teflon and 2 wt% lead oxide is impregnated with water while stirring, and after drying 400 It heat-processed at 60 degreeC for 60 minutes, and it was set as the negative electrode of the battery. A nickel (II) hydroxide positive electrode having the same amount of charge as this negative electrode is placed in a 30% aqueous potassium hydroxide solution together with a separator containing cellulose as a main component, and charged and discharged at 0.2 C for 5 hours. Was repeated 50 times. The utilization rate of the active material at the 50th cycle was 40% compared to the initial value, and the active material was washed away to the outside of the porous body, and the washed-out active material was abnormally deposited on the side surface of the negative electrode, causing a short circuit occasionally. The performance as a secondary battery was insufficient.

[0008]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a porous current collector for an alkaline secondary battery, which has a good charge and discharge utilization rate and is stable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a porous metal body of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a skeleton portion of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 skeleton 2 holes 3 cavities

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A porous metal body having a cavity of 1 μm or more and 50 μm or less in the skeleton, an average diameter of the skeleton of 50 μm or more and 200 μm or less, and an average pore diameter of 200 μm or more and 800 μm or less. 2. The porous metal body according to claim 1, wherein the porosity is in the range of 85% or more and 99% or less. 3. The porous metal body according to claim 1, wherein the porous body has a thickness of 0.5 mm or more and 5 mm or less.